ABS saves farmers 20,000 hours a year with new agricultural collection

New ways of collecting agricultural statistics have saved farmers 20,000 hours on average a year, according to a new information paper released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Rob Walter, ABS head of agriculture statistics, said: “The ABS and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences – known as ABARES – have worked together to improve and modernise our collection of agricultural statistics this year with great results."

“These new statistics replaced our old annual survey with existing data sources, meaning Australian farmers spend much less time answering survey questions.”

The new methods have also helped estimate cattle herd numbers more accurately, showing that there were 29.9 million head of cattle in Australia at 30 June 2023.

The new collection method also gives better regional detail for cropping statistics to highlight the relationship between regional towns and their agricultural commodities. For example, it shows that Morawa in Western Australia had the highest production of wheat at 2.1 million tonnes.

Today’s information paper offers new updates on the ABS’ modernisation of agricultural statistics, including the latest timelines and priority objectives.

“These improvements have only been possible through partnering with industry, academia and government through statistical working groups, established and supported by ABARES."

“Our partnerships have helped us to access existing data sources, like satellite-derived crop mapping and administrative levy payer data. We’ve also developed new methods to combine these datasets to give us high quality statistics,” Mr Walter said.

“Releasing our latest modernised agricultural statistics in June was a major milestone, but we’re aware that more work is needed. We’re looking at filling the remaining gaps as we work through this project."

“Estimating sheep numbers in Australia and publishing cotton production and value statistics are just two specific areas of focus we have for our next release.”

The ABS and ABARES thank our new partners for working together as we continue to modernise Australian agricultural statistics.

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